Also, you can check the Windows event viewer. Just use the Windows search feature and type in "Event Viewer" it should be the first result. On the left side bar, open up "Windows Logs" -> "Application". You can do this for crashes that have already occurred. For convenience, you probably want to use "Filter Current Log..." on the right panel, and select only Critical, Error, and Warnings to see bad stuff that happened. You can see what exe or dll crashed, and what the error code was if it was a pure software issue. Based on what DLL or exe that crashed (if it is a system file or DCS file) you'll have an idea of what might be a problem. You can also check out the "System Events" section for anything fishy about your other hardware or your overall system health looking for any errors/critical.
Application crashes will definitely show up, and if the application crash was associated with a hardware failure, you should have two events at the same time. If you only see application crashes, then I would stop worry about any hardware and think about what might need to be reinstalled / updated, or simply changed just to have a different combination/result that lets you know you're messing with the right thing.
